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Home (episode)
Once Enterprise finally returns to Earth, the weary crew face repercussions from their journeys, both positive and negative. Summary Carrying the senior officers, the Enterprise shuttlepod swoops down from orbit to the rooftop stadium of Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. A ceremony celebrating Enterprise's success in the Delphic Expanse pays tribute to the heroic crew, although Captain Jonathan Archer says in a speech that the true heroes are their crewmates who didn't make it back alive. A crowd of thousands gratefully applauds their efforts which saved Earth from the Xindi superweapon. Later that evening, Archer meets old flame Erika Hernandez in a quiet piano bar. She is not only Archer's former love interest, she is also a Starfleet Captain, preparing to command the Columbia (NX-02). Archer visits her aboard her vessel, still being prepared for its maiden voyage. He recommends she make several changes to the ship before leaving, based on his starship experience. Archer notes the ship's new weapons upgrades, recalling how he once naively opposed weapons on Enterprise, as they might deter from any First Contact missions. On Enterprise, Commander Tucker (Trip) mulls his options for shore leave -- with his hometown in Florida destroyed, he has nowhere to go. T'Pol invites him to join her on a trip to Vulcan (planet), which she hasn't visited in many years; Trip accepts, leaving to pack his bags. Doctor Phlox, toting a large array of travel bags for his vacation on Earth, is warned by Lieutenant Malcolm Reed about the heightened level of xenophobia on Earth in the aftermath of the Xindi attack; Phlox dismisses the warnings and continues to the surface. As Archer is debriefed by Starfleet Command and the Vulcan High Command, the topic drifts to the trellium-infected Vulcan ship Seleya encountered by Enterprise in the Expanse (ENT: Impulse). When Ambassador Soval insinuates that Archer destroyed the vessel without doing enough to help the delusional crew, Archer becomes outraged, blaming the Vulcan High Command for not providing enough assistance in their mission, saying that he received more help from the Andorians than from the Vulcans. Admiral Forrest angrily orders Archer to take some time off to clear his mind. In a beautiful wilderness retreat, as Archer prepares to go rock climbing, Captain Hernandez suddenly appears, offering to join him. Arriving on Vulcan, T'Pol leads Trip into the house where she grew up. Her mother T'Les greets them, surprised to see that T'Pol has brought a guest -- a human guest, nonetheless. She informs T'Pol that she has "retired" from her teaching position at the Science Academy. She also shows T'Pol a letter from Koss, T'Pol's fiance since childhood (arranged marriages are common in Vulcan culture); however, much to her mother's chagrin, T'Pol expresses no interest in seeing Koss. Early the next morning, T'Pol awakens Trip at four o'clock so that they -- as guests in the household -- can prepare the morning meal (another Vulcan tradition). While eating, T'Les is unhappy with many of the changes she notices in her daughter: T'Pol's unwillingness to marry Koss, T'Pol's plans to join Starfleet. She hints that T'Pol is becoming more human than Vulcan. In a bar on Earth, crewmates Reed, Ensign Travis Mayweather and Phlox enjoy their new-found celebrity, until they are confronted by a nasty bar patron exhibiting the very xenophobia they had heard of. When the man strongly urges Phlox to leave the establishment, Reed and Mayweather come to their friend's defense; a brawl ensues. During the fight, Phlox expands his face to three times its normal size, an instinctive defensive posture (much like a pufferfish in Earth's seas), scaring away the troublemakers. Afterward, Phlox calmly munches on a pretzel. T'Les confronts Trip about being in love with her daughter, a point he reluctantly concedes. As he adjusts a field generator to fix T'Les' replicator, Trip answers a knock on the front door; it is Koss, asking to speak to T'Pol. When alone with T'Pol, Koss expresses his interest in going forward with the marriage, for traditional reasons more than anything else. T'Pol tries desperately to dissuade him, hinting at her "sickness" (her addiction to trellium-D, from ENT: Damage), even suggesting the kal-if-fee -- a fight to the death -- to no avail. Koss tells T'Pol that if she goes forward with their marriage, he will have T'Les reinstated at the Science Academy, hinting that her retirement wasn't voluntary. High up in the hills, Archer and Hernandez discuss Starfleet politics, personnel issues, and encounters made by Enterprise in the past three years. Herself eager to explore the galaxy, Hernandez finds Archer a significantly changed man, not as "gung ho" about space exploration as he once was. Archer has a frightening dream, in which he is attacked on the mountainside by Xindi-Reptilians. Awakening with a start, he bares his feelings of uncertainty about his mission and his purpose in life. Hernandez offers to help, kissing Archer, and rekindling their romance. When T'Pol asks her mother about the circumstances of her retirement, T'Les reveals that she retired to halt an inquiry into her alleged criminal behavior; the trumped up charges were retribution for T'Pol's actions on P'Jem, which resulted in the destruction of a Vulcan monastary (ENT: The Andorian Incident). Since T'Pol was aboard Enterprise and untouchable, the Vulcan High Command punished her mother T'Les instead. T'Pol gives Trip a tour of a Vulcan lava field, which resembles Earth's Grand Canyon, yet with giant statues ringing the valley. She tells Trip of her plans to go forward with the marriage to Koss, in order to restore her mother's position; Trip angrily storms off. Back on Enterprise, Phlox informs Hoshi that the Xindi neural parasites are almost completely gone from her brain. To celebrate, she invites him to Madam Chang's for their famous egg drop soup, but he pretends to be too busy caring for an ailing osmotic eel. Having spoken to Travis about the bar fight, she knows the true cause of his relunctance to return to the planet's surface. She urges him to stand up to the prejudice; when he sadly declines to join her, she promises to bring him take-out. Once Archer and Hernandez returns from his climbing trip, Archer continues the debriefing at Starfleet Headquarters. After it is concluded, he apologizes to Soval for his prior outburst. Soval, who opposed Archer's appointment to Enterprise, now acknowledges that he was in error; while some of the Captain's actions were morally questionable, he argues, they were necessary to save Earth, as well as Vulcan. Remarkably out of character (for a Vulcan), Soval thanks Archer, shaking his hand in friendship. Trip has donned T'Pol's father's Vulcan attire for the wedding ceremony. At the last minute, T'Les urges Trip to divulged his true feelings to her daughter; Trip declines, reasoning that T'Pol already has enough pressure on her as it is. Stunned at his selflessness (which reveals the depth of his love), T'Les walks away, wondering herself if T'Pol is really doing the right thing or not. Arriving at the ceremony, Trip compliments T'Pol on her beautiful purple wedding gown; kissing him delicately on the cheek, she proceeds to the ceremony. Memorable Quotes "There's more to life than your profession; perhaps you'll learn that one day." - T'Les "Maybe you'll feel differently after you've delivered a few dozen eulogies." - Archer "Are you all right?" - Hernandez "I'm not even sure what 'all right' means anymore.... I lost something out there; I don't know how to get it back." - Archer "I'm sorry" - T'Pol "You're sorry? You brought me sixteen light-years just to watch you get married to someone you barely know." - Trip "What ye are about to witness comes down from the time of the beginning without change. This is the Vulcan heart; this is the Vulcan soul; this is our way...." - Vulcan priest Background Information MISC. NOTES Links and References Guest Stars *Ada Maris as Captain Erika Hernandez *Joanna Cassidy as T'Les *Michael Reilly Burke as Koss *Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Maxwell Forrest *Jim Fitzpatrick as Commander Williams *Gary Graham as Soval *Joe Chrest as Xenophobic Bar Patron *Jack Donner as Vulcan Priest References gespar, MACO, Squad, Vulcan Science Academy, World War III, Xindi-Reptilian, Mount Tar'Hana, Fire Plains, Rigelian, Andorian Category:ENT episodes